Common Crow
(Corvus americanus) Crow family

Called also: CORN THIEF; [AMERICAN CROW, AOU 1998]

Length -- 16 to 17.50 inches. Male -- Glossy black with violet reflections. Wings appear saw-toothed when spread, and almost equal the tail in length. Female -- Like male, except that the black is less brilliant. Range -- Throughout North America, from Hudson Bay to the Gulf of Mexico. Migrations -- March. October. Summer and winter resident.

If we have an eye for the picturesque, we place a certain value upon the broad, strong dash of color in the landscape, given by a flock of crows flapping their course above a corn-field, against an October sky; but the practical eye of the farmer looks only for his gun in such a case. To him the crow is an unmitigated nuisance, all the more maddening because it is clever enough to circumvent every means devised for its ruin. Nothing escapes its rapacity; fear is unknown to it. It migrates in broad daylight, chooses the most conspicuous perches, and yet its assurance is amply justified in its steadily increasing numbers.